First Look! Taylor Trensch Steps Into the Title Character of Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen

The 28-year-old actor, who recently played Barnaby Tucker in Broadway’s Hello, Dolly! opposite Bette Midler, is stepping into the title role of Dear Evan Hansen — and PEOPLE has the first look at the star in costume.

Written by the Tony-winning composing team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul with a book from Steven Levenson, the musical tells the story of an anxiety-plagued high school loner named Evan who is paralyzed by the hyper-connectivity of social media and forced to watch the world from the outside looking in. Trying to improve his self-image, Evan writes himself a letter that is mistaken for a classmate’s suicide note and rides that error to popularity. (The story is loosely based on an experience Pasek witnessed in high school).

Since opening on Broadway in December 2016, Dear Evan Hansenhas become a sold-out out smash, winning six Tonys.

On Sunday, the original cast — as well as Pasek, Paul, music producer Pete Ganbarg, musical supervisor and orchestrator, Alex Lacamoire, and producer Stacey Mindich — picked up a Grammy for best musical theater album for the show’s original cast recording.

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